Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia has invested $14 million to build an intelligent network with advanced mobility and video technologies to support innovation, collaboration, and efficiency.

The university is partnering with Cisco and Dimension Data to build the network, and Cisco Capital is providing financing for the project, which will be based on Cisco Unified Access technology. According to information on the Cisco site, Cisco Unified Access is "an integrated and simplified intelligent network platform" that provides a foundation for bring-your-own-device (BYOD) initiatives and the "Internet of Everything (IoE)," which is Cisco's term for intelligent networking to "connect people, processes, data, and things with greater intelligence, security, and efficiency."

The intelligent network at Flinders University will support high-density, high-speed wireless connections up to gigabit speeds on 802.11a/c technology. It will also include Cisco TelePresence video conferencing with high-definition (HD) video and TelePresence Exchange, a cloud-based telepresence service-creation platform.

Flinders University will use its intelligent network to support BYOD policies, so students on campus can automatically connect their mobile devices to the network. Students will also be able to stream content, such as HD video, onto their devices from the university's learning management system (LMS) and use social collaboration tools to discuss assignments, post questions, locate experts and fellow students, and engage with tutors.

The university will use Cisco TelePresence video conferencing to support real-time collaboration between colleagues and staff across campus, and it will use TelePresence Exchange to connect with other AARNet (Australia's Academic and Research Network) institutions and researchers. Researchers at the university will also have access to up to 10 Gbps speeds and have the ability to provision virtual servers and storage on demand, so they can set up sandbox environments to run analytics for a research project without affecting network performance for other users.

Flinders University serves nearly 22,000 undergraduate and graduate students and employs nearly 2,000 staff at its Adelaide campus in South Australia.

Further information about Cisco Unified Access technology can be found on cisco.com.

About the Author

Leila Meyer is a technology writer based in British Columbia. She can be reached at leilameyer@gmail.com.